


grownup means to go to nursery school

by mothicalcreatures



Series: IN WHICH, John Irving and Solomon Tozer Have a Baby [7]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Day of School, Kid Fic, M/M, sol and irving are trans, the terror decameron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: It was Danny’s first day of kindergarten and things were stressful. Danny was having a fabulous time, he’d set an alarm, just like his daddies did for work, and he was instrumental in ensuring that his lunch was not forgotten at home. Solomon certainly would not have remembered it otherwise.
Relationships: Lt John Irving/Sgt Solomon Tozer
Series: IN WHICH, John Irving and Solomon Tozer Have a Baby [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679731
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: the terror decameron





	grownup means to go to nursery school

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teapig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teapig/gifts), [bluebacchus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebacchus/gifts).



> For my final Terror Decameron prompt: day 8 "bittersweet." Also for bluebacchus who suggested first day of kindergarten and teapig who suggested _Solving_ first day of kindergarten.
> 
> Title is once again from "Open House for Butterflies."

It was Danny’s first day of kindergarten and things were stressful. Danny was having a fabulous time, he’d set an alarm, just like his daddies did for work, and he was instrumental in ensuring that his lunch was not forgotten at home. Solomon certainly would not have remembered it otherwise.

John had been called into work for an emergency meeting, despite the fact that he’d gotten previous approval to take the morning off to bring Danny to school for his first day, and so Solomon had been left to pull everything together on his own. Which… shouldn’t have been a problem. Danny had been going to day care and pre-school for a bit now, so getting Danny ready for time away from home was nothing new.

But kindergarten was new, Danny would be away from home for a full school day. And… Solomon would be at home… alone… all day until John got home, because his “my kid’s in school now” schedule at his new security job wouldn’t be kicking in for another week (he’d gotten stuck working nights again).

So he was tired and frazzled and Danny was frankly the only reason they made it to school on time and intact. He had definitely inherited John’s need to be punctual.

“It will be okay, Daddy,” Danny said, patting Solomon’s hand as they walked up to the school.

Solomon smiled down at Danny, he could feel himself starting to get a little teary. “I know, little man. You’re gonna do great. Do you remember where your classroom is?”

Danny hesitated, suddenly looking a bit concerned. “I _think_ so.”

“Well, I’ll let you lead the way then and we can ask if we’re unsure.” Solomon did remember from the open house, but Danny had been leading the charge thus far.

That seemed to relax Danny, and by the time they reached the doorsDanny was back to excitedly tugging Solomon forward. They made it to the classroom, mostly under Danny’s guidance, with only a little bit of nudging from Solomon.

“You ready?” Solomon asked after Danny had stashed his backpack and lunchbox in a cubby.

Danny nodded. “Hug before you go?”

“As if I’d leave without getting a hug,” Solomon said and Danny giggled as Solomon crouched down to pull him into a tight hug.

“I love you daddy,” Danny murmured into Solomon’s shoulder.

“Love you too, little man.”

When Solomon pulled back, eyes only a little bit wet, the teacher had come up to show Danny into the classroom and with a last wave Solomon headed out.

He thought it was a true testament to his self control that he didn’t start crying until _after_ he’d gotten home. Sinking onto the couch with a box of tissues he pulled out his phone to call John, his boss could suck it, Solomon wanted to talk to his husband.

“Hey, is everything all right?” John asked, sounding incredibly concerned.

Solomon sniffled. “Yeah, yeah, Danny did great. I’m the one crying on the couch.”

“He’s grown up so fast,” John murmured. “His bar mitzvah will be here before we know it.”

Solomon wailed softly. “Why would you even bring that up!”

“I’m sorry,” John said, though Solomon could hear him laughing quietly.

Solomon sniffled again and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “Do you think you’ll be home in time to pick him up?”

“Yes. I’ll be home after lunch. They’re letting me leave early to‘make up’ for having me come in this morning.”

Solomon could hear the bitterness seeping into John’s voice, though he was doing his best to conceal it, likely because he had coworkers nearby.

“Danny’ll be thrilled that you’ll be there to pick him up,” Solomon said.

John sighed. “Yes, he will… I… I should get back to the meeting before my boss sends someone to hunt me down. I’ll be home by one at the latest.”

“All right, I’ll see you then, love you,” Solomon murmured.

John replied with a quick “Love you too,” before hanging up. Solomon was once again alone with himself in a house that was entirely too quiet.

Solomon was in more or less the same position lying on the couch when John arrived home at 12:47pm.

John leaned over the back of the couch. “Have you even moved since you called me?”

“Yeah. I got my computer and something to eat,” Solomon said, gesturing to the coffee table, where there was an empty tub of ice cream and his laptop was quietly playing ABBA’s “Slipping Through My Fingers” on repeat.

John chuckled and Solomon swatted at him halfheartedly.

“I’ll make us a real lunch,” John said. “And then we can discuss dinner plans.”

“I though we’d settled on take out?” Solomon said, pushing himself more upright.

“We did, but that was when I wasn’t going to be home in the afternoon,” John pointed out. “I’d have the time to make something fancy now. Or does Danny have his heart set on take out?”

“I didn’t ask when I dropped him off, but he seemed pretty excited about it last night.”

John hummed in thought, straightening out and drumming his fingers on the back of the couch. “Let’s leave dinner alone then.”

Picking up Danny from school was not quiet as emotional as drop off, but not by much. Danny had launched himself at John as soon as he was close enough to do so and John, having not been entirely prepared to be rushed by a small child, had nearly toppled over (the only reason he hadn’t was because Solomon had caught him). Of course, once Danny had finished being excited about John being there, he immediately began to tell them all about everything he did over the course of the day.

Danny was still telling them about his day when they arrived home. “And… and we got _stickers_ for helping Ms. Allen clean up after snack time, and the other kids put theirs on their folders, but I wanted to put mine in my sticker book. Can I bring my sticker book to school?”

“I don’t see why not,” John said, as he helped Danny take his shoes off. “But you might want to keep it in your backpack until sticker time. You’ve put a lot of work into your sticker book, and we wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”

“Right,” Danny agreed.

“Or maybe we should get you a new sticker book, just for school stickers,” Solomon suggested, remembering that Danny’s sticker book included some medieval manuscript stickers of people blowing trumpets with their butts that might not be appreciated by Danny’s teacher.

John’s eyes widened when he got the meaning behind Solomon’s suggestion. “Yes, I think that’s even better. Don’t you?” he asked Danny.

Danny thought about it for a moment. “What will I do with today’s school sticker?”

“I’ve definitely got an extra little notebook we can use to make you a school sticker book,” John said. “We can make it tonight after dinner.”

Danny deemed this acceptable and then when Solomon took his backpack he was off and into his room.

“We should go through his folder to see if he’s got any homework,” John said.

Solomon unzipped Danny’s bag to get his school folder. “More likely things we need to sign. If he does have homework, that can wait a bit, let’s let him have a bit of a break.”

“Yes,” John agreed. “We should find out what he wants for dinner though, so I can call in our order.”

**Author's Note:**

> [ The mentioned butt trumpet sticker.](https://www.birchbark.co.uk/index.php/product/folio-2-marginalia-paraphernalia-a6-stickers/)


End file.
